Asked by: Baroness Sater (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to publish their Sports Strategy.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) recognise the power of sport to help change lives and make communities safer. We work in partnership with a range of sports organisations to develop and provide access to initiatives that allow people on probation and those in and leaving prison to be able to get and stay well as part of helping to turn their lives around. For example, we have introduced Park Runs in prisons and developed our innovative partnership with the Twinning Project which matches prisons and probation areas with Football foundations.
The Government’s Sports Strategy is in the process of being refreshed, led by DCMS, and will set the long-term strategic policy direction for sport in the UK. The refreshed strategy is expected to be published in 2023 and HMPPS will develop and publish how we will support the delivery of this strategy for people in prison and on probation. We will confirm the timescale for this following publication of the Government’s Sport Strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Sater (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the provision of financial education for pupils eligible for free school meals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department wants all schools to offer high standard of financial education. In delivering the curriculum, including financial education, schools should take account of pupils with particular needs and adapt lessons accordingly.
Education on financial matters helps to ensure that pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and managing financial risk. Finance education forms part of the citizenship national curriculum which can be taught at all key stages and is compulsory at key stages 3 and 4: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.
The department has also introduced a rigorous mathematics curriculum, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. In the primary mathematics curriculum, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic knowledge that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of numeracy and numbers will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education, such as calculations with money.
The department has not made any specific requirement for financial education provision for pupils who are eligible for free school meals, however, as with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver these subjects. This means schools can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
The Money and Pensions Service published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England, to support school leaders to enhance the financial education currently delivered in their schools to make it memorable and impactful. The guidance is available here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The department will continue to work closely with the Money and Pensions Service and other stakeholders, such as HM Treasury, to consider learning from other sector initiatives and whether there is scope to provide further support for the teaching of financial education in schools.
Asked by: Baroness Sater (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increasing the amount of physical exercise delivered by schools each day from 30 to 60 minutes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The UK Chief Medical Officers’ published guidelines in 2011 which recommended that children and young people aged 5-18 should do a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day.
It is up to schools to decide what opportunities to offer to pupils to be active, including through a diverse and challenging physical exercise (PE) curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils. Under the Childhood Obesity Plan the government set an expectation that at least 30 minutes should be delivered in school every day through active break times, PE, extra-curricular clubs, active lessons, or other sport and physical activity events.
The government restated this expectation in the School Sport and Activity Action Plan published earlier this month. A link to the Plan is attached here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-sport-and-activity-action-plan.
Through the action set out in the plan, the government will support schools to offer high quality PE and activity opportunities and take steps to increase the opportunities outside of school. As part of the plan, the government has committed to raising awareness of the appropriate levels of physical activity for children and young people, to align with updated Chief Medical Officers’ guidance on physical activity which is due in September 2019.
The department will shortly be issuing procurement guidelines on the purchase and installation of multi-use games areas (MUGAs) for schools. MUGAs provide an excellent opportunity to enhance sports facilities for all schools, particularly those with limited outside space. They can be used all year round, increasing the ability of schools to help ensure as much sporting provision as possible.